I am sure you have heard of these phrases. You may even be an unfortunate recipient of one of these. The fact is that I am sure we have all been told at some point in our life that we are too … (fill in the blank).

For some of us it is a passing comment that simply rolls off our backs and in one ear and out the other. For some of us though, the comment that we are “too this” or “not enough” of that can pierce our souls and cause damage to the one of the greatest thing we can possess … our identity. What is worse is that some of us actually believe that we are “too this” or “not enough” of that. Some of us have chosen to take those words to heart and have chosen to leave our heart exposed to whatever comment comes our way. Yes people do that to their own self all the time. It is a sure way to stay in the victim mentality.

In life, we will never please every single person we meet. We will not even please people we have never meet, imagine that, like some we walk by or have a phone conversation with. Not every single person is going to be a bestie or a director of your fan club. As they say, you win some, you lose some. This is completely normal. There will always be people full of negative opinions of you, the next person, their co worker, their neighbor etc. and negative opinions of everything under the sun. There are always opinions everywhere and at all time. Taking it a step further, you know what those opinions can really be? Labels.

There’s always something someone wants to label you as. Getting a label is easy to come by. It is cheap and super accessible. We are the ones though who can choose to market that label or suspend the campaign. The craziness is that if we chose to market that negative label that we got from someone else, we market it on our expense. It is costly because time is expensive. What are we spending our time and energy marketing? Are we going along with the labels that some else stuck on us, or are we going along with who we know we are and who God called us to be? We are more than enough. We are created with a special purpose. We are just what we need to be to accomplish what we are put on this earth to do.

Maybe like me you have carried around negative labels that others have stuck on you. It is hard not to walk around without labels. Have you ever tried to get a label off of something when it had been on there for a while? You start to peel the edges and everything seems fine then the glue sticks and the label starts ripping in pieces. Sometimes you get a part of the label off then you have to scrap off the rest of pieces. It can be messy and time consuming but so can healing from the pain of a negative label that some stuck on you. Some labels are easier to get off than others. The easiest ones are the ones that are not there in the first place right?

Be careful who you let label you and read what the label says. More importantly, be careful what label you allow to stay on you. We live in a society where we are almost walking glue so to speak for every label under the sun to be put on us. Do not allow the negative labels to rule over your life and dictate how you see yourself. If you already have negative labels on you, peel them off now. They do not belong on you. Be strong. Be confident. Be wise. You need to honey because in this world there’s always something.

Hi Naomi, Good word. I’m sitting here trying to bring to mind some of the labels people have slapped on me: “Too awkward.” 🙂 That’s a big one. “Too young.” The list goes on. And how I have embraced these labels, patting them on ever tighter. It’s going to be hard to unpeel them, but I have to do it so I can bloom and flourish. Thanks for the encouragement.

I am peeling off many-a-label!!! I am in my late 60s and have allowed far too many labels to be placed upon me or I have taken them myself and glued them tight! I have removed many over the years yet still manage to have more than I wish. Thank you for this perfect reminder for me to trust in my Creator that He made me just the way He wanted. He still loves me. Hallelujah!